Key points
- T1 Energy (TE) is down about 1% today near $7.29, while the Nasdaq and the broader tech sector are up more than 1.5%. This looks stock-specific, not a sector story.
- Short interest is high, roughly a fifth of the float per the most recent report. A Fuzzy Panda short report questioning T1's China supply-chain ties is still unresolved. And there's unconfirmed chatter on X that Leopold Aschenbrenner sold his stake. I can't verify that last one, and no filing supports it yet, that's a rumor on X, not a confirmed fact.
- I added to my TE position yesterday because I think the selling is overdone relative to the improving fundamentals. Disclosure: I hold a position in TE.
Quick update on T1 Energy (TE) since a few people asked why it's red today. The stock is down about 1 percent to around $7.29 while the Nasdaq and the rest of tech are having a good day. I added to my position yesterday. So let me walk through what's actually driving this, and why I bought more instead of running.
The drop doesn't match the tape
Today isn't a tech selloff. The Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) is up about 1.7 percent. The tech sector (XLK) is up about 2.7 percent. Even the solar-sector ETF (TAN) is up about 1.4 percent. I went over the broader group in our piece on solar and storage riding the AI power boom. TE is the outlier here, not the market.
Volume so far today is around 19.9 million shares, still well below the 30-day average near 35 million. So this isn't a panic dump. It looks more like a quiet grind lower on stock-specific noise. One real, dated event on the tape today: T1's public and private warrants, struck at $11.50, expired and were delisted from the NYSE on July 9. Warrant-related unwind trades can add mechanical selling pressure around a date like that.
The bear case: short interest, Fuzzy Panda, and an unconfirmed rumor
There's real substance behind the skepticism here, so I want to be straight about it.
- Short interest is elevated. Recent reports put shares short at roughly a fifth of the float, among the more heavily shorted names in this group. That cuts both ways. Real bears are betting against the stock, and any good news can spark a fast squeeze higher.
- Fuzzy Panda Research is still out there. The short seller published a whistleblower-backed report alleging T1 bought about $65 million in solar cells from China's Trina Solar in Q1, despite public assurances the company had cut ties to comply with U.S. content rules. If that holds up, it threatens the tax credits T1's margins depend on. T1 has pushed back, and I haven't seen this independently confirmed by a regulator. It's a real, unresolved risk, not a settled fact either way.
- The Aschenbrenner sell rumor is an unconfirmed rumor on X, nothing more. There's chatter on X that Leopold Aschenbrenner's fund, Situational Awareness, dumped its TE stake. I couldn't find a source for it beyond social-media posts, no company statement, no filing, no credible report. As we noted in our last look at his TE position, his fund's next 13F isn't due until mid-August, so a same-day sale wouldn't show up in any filing yet regardless (here's how 13F reporting lags actually work). What is confirmed: his fund trimmed its Bloom Energy stake by about a third last quarter, a different stock entirely. My guess is some of this X rumor is people mixing the two up. Until a filing or a credible report says otherwise, I'm treating the TE sell claim as unconfirmed chatter, not news.
Why I added anyway
I don't think the fundamentals back up this level of pessimism. T1's Q1 numbers were actually decent. Net sales came in at $177.6 million, well ahead of the roughly $95 million analysts expected. Adjusted EBITDA was positive at $9.1 million. The net loss was driven by discontinued operations, not the core solar business, which posted net income from continuing operations of $3.9 million. That's a real improvement from where this company was a year ago.
The stock is also a long way from its 52-week high near $12.49 set back in June, and not far off its 52-week low near $1.15 from last August. The analysts covering it actually lean bullish. It's a Strong Buy consensus, with price targets averaging in the high $9s and ranging from $7 to $16, which puts the average target around 30 percent above where the stock trades today. I bought the dip because I think the market is pricing in the worst version of the Fuzzy Panda story and an unverified rumor at the same time, and that combination looks overdone to me.
The risks, because I'm not blind to them
This is a volatile, high-short-interest stock sitting on top of a real, unresolved allegation. If Fuzzy Panda's claims hold up and T1 loses its FEOC-linked tax credits, the math on this business gets much worse fast. Regulators are reportedly looking into it, and that process can drag on and move the stock either way on every headline. A crowded short also means big moves in both directions. I sized this as a swing position, not something I'd bet the farm on. I could be wrong here, and the short sellers could turn out to be right.
Bottom line: TE is red today while the rest of tech is green, and the real news is a warrant delisting event plus lingering overhang from the Fuzzy Panda report. The Aschenbrenner sell chatter is an unconfirmed rumor on X, not backed by anything I can find. I added to my position yesterday because I think the setup is better than the sentiment. I could be early, and I could be wrong, so size accordingly.
Disclosure: I hold a position in TE, added July 8, 2026. This column is my personal opinion as a swing trader. It is not investment advice and not a research report. Prices are as of about 1:25 p.m. ET on July 9, 2026, and move fast. Do your own research and size your own risk.
